Allow Emergency Aid from Cuba
We ask you to endorse this statement by the newly formed AEMAC (Allow Emergency Medical Aid from Cuba) to bring Cuban doctors and medicine to Detroit in order to Fight COVID-19:
We are all stunned by the enormous death and destruction in Detroit caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This plague is especially hitting the African American community, disproportionally. While Trump promotes a malaria drug of questionable effectiveness, which has even been shown to be harmful to people with COVID-19, we know that Cuba has produced Interferon Alpha 2(b) and other medications which are showing promising results against the Coronavirus in China and other countries. We desperately could use those medications here in Detroit.
Although subject to the inhumane U.S. blockade, Cuba has been dedicated to developing and sharing medical breakthroughs, training people from all over the world to be skilled healthcare workers, and sending medical teams wherever there is great need. Several Detroit students have graduated from or are currently enrolled in medical school under full scholarship in Cuba. Cuban doctors and nurses are now in Italy, Iran, and 35 other nations, helping to save the lives of COVID-19 victims.
We want to invite Cuba to help us now, as Detroit is being so heavily impacted by the virus. Governor Whitmer has the emergency authority, under MCL 30.404, to enter into reciprocal aid agreements with other countries to obtain food, clothing, medicine and supplies to meet the crisis. There is an exception to the U.S. Blockade against Cuba for the importation of Cuban medicines under 31 CFR 515.347.
Join us in requesting that Governor Whitmer, on behalf of the people of Michigan, issue a formal request for medical aid from Cuba.
1. Detroit needs the medications that Cuba has been developing and using successfully worldwide to fight COVID-19. Interferon Alfa-2B stands out across the world as a serious option, with promising results. We call for the governor to set up a team of medical experts to examine its efficacy as a treatment for COVID-19, and present their findings, if positive, to the FDA for approval of its distribution and use.
2. Governor Whitmer should extend an invitation to Cuba to send medical teams experienced in fighting Pandemics like the COVID-19 to help treat those most affected in Michigan.
